Small Business Ombudsman Kate Carnell says Australia should consider giving small operators access to legal aid or other forms of financial support to fight legal disputes with bigger players, with the small business community marking access to justice as a top priority for 2018.

Carnell has previously signalled to SmartCompany her office will continue to focus on the difficulties small businesses face when entering legal disputes, and speaking to Fairfax last week, she said her office is examining the possibility of opening up legal aid to businesses as part of its research into small business disputes in Australia.

Blockchain-based services marketplace CanYa has completed Australia’s second-largest initial coin offering (ICO), raising $12 million in cryptocurrency Ethereum over a 30-day period via a crowdsale of its CAN tokens.

During that period, the 2015-founded startup also completed the acquisition of a majority stake in online bug bounty platform BountySource for an undisclosed amount, taking the platform’s 46,000 members under its wing in a move that CanYa co-founder Kyle Hornberg says is unprecedented in the ICO and cryptocurrency space.

Sydney design technology firm Canva has become Australia’s newest unicorn — a billion-dollar start-up — raising $US40m ($51m) in a round that values the company at $US1 billion.

Canva chief executive Mel­anie Perkins, who started the company 10 years ago with Cliff Obrecht while studying at university, told The Australian she hoped to create one of the world’s most valuable companies and to use the platform as a force for good.

When Tomas Jajesnica was ready to embrace career change with a new business idea he hit a brick wall. His business plan for a franchise-style meditation service was solidifying but funding was impossible to secure.

“My capacity to get a loan was pretty much non-existent. I had a lot of personal debt. Nobody was keen to lend to me,” said Mr Jajesnica.

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About Simeon Duncan

Simeon has over a decade of high-level experience in Australian federal politics. He worked in communications and campaign roles as a Senior Advisor providing strategic advice, training and support to three Opposition Leaders.